Five days after a soft-release live stream of their new album, Gorillaz have released The Now Now. After last year's enormous 26-track Humanz, the new album, that has less than half the amount of songs as its predecessor, sounds and feels laid-back, minimal and strikingly personal. Features by rappers like Vince Staples, Pusha T and Danny Brown–none of whom could be considered chill–have been traded in for only three features total, with one from Snoop Dogg which turns out to be one of the best verses he's put out in recent memory.
Other songs, like "Idaho," are so minimal as to be surprising. The song starts with acoustic guitar and reminds us that there is in fact a human behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, who just yesterday made the news with some personal remarks about Kanye West and Paul McCartney. For more personal remarks by Albarn, listen below:
The Now Now
01. Humility (feat. George Benson)
02. Tranz
03. Hollywood (feat. Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle)
04. Kansas
05. Sorcererz
06. Idaho
07. Lake Zurich
08. Magic City
09. Fire Flies
10. One Percent
11. Souk Eye
